Notes from Calls

Each organization shared their progress, insights, and challenges. These are some nuggets of wisdom shared by the group to help keep momentum with experiments.

Don't forget to monitor and share what you're learning using the artslabsf twitter tag
Follow your colleagues on Twitter
If you can, try to keep your lab notebooks updated. Check out SFGMC for a stellar example of listening experiment.

Twitter Experiments

• Balancing personal twitter account with branded organizational account.
  • Here's a post about different approaches to Twitter with "institutional" vs "personal"
  • Experiment with Co-Tweet, a Twitter client that allows you to tweet to multiple accounts from one interface. It is also good if more than more person is tweeting from an organizational account. See: "Managing Multiple Twitter Accounts"
  
  
• Balancing an automated newsfeed account with an interactive one
  • Can have more than one, just brand in the profile
  • Be sure to track both based on your objectives. Dell has used an automated account to run coupon deals and tracks conversions. They have multiple accounts where they are interacting with people.
  • See Twitter's rules on automated accounts

• Leveraging Artistic Director's Personal Account for Organizational Account
  • Have your artistic director point or retweet the organization's account and encourage followers to join
  • Be sure his profile is filled out and the web link goes to a Twitter landing page that mentions company
  • Follow all his followers

• CEO Twitter Accounts:
  • It depends on how comfortable they are and want to do it regularly. You don't have to set up a CEO account - to test the waters they could be "guest tweeter" on your organizational profile to get their feet wet.
    • Should CEOs and Executive Directors of Nonprofits Tweet?
    • Eight Nonprofit CEOs who Tweet

• Making Twitter A Habit
  • It takes 21 days to make a habit. Integrate your Twitter workflow as part of your morning routine. Maybe schedule 15-20 minutes before you do your email. The work flow:
    • Check/Reply for Direct Messages
    • Check the @replies and respond
    • Read your stream - just skim, you don't have to read in depth - retweet, respond, ask questions
    • Check your key word searches and lists on Twitter and respond
    • Tweet any content from your organization
    • Track and Test, Track and Test - here's an example

• Twitter Tracking Tools: Important to be tracking how you're doing
  • Follower counts: Tweetstats
  • Click Thrus: Bit.ly
  • Favorites: FavStar

• Check out #OperaPlot hashtag from San Jose Opera - a contest to summarize opera plots in 140 characters - getting good engagement.

• Getting to know your followers: Download a spreadsheet of your followers and review for influencers, etc. Use Friend or Follow

Listening

• If any of the free search tools are giving you a problem, try them again in a couple of days. Also, you can use alternatives. Here's a big list.

• Start using the listening template to summarize what you are learning.

• Have been listening, moving towards participating on Twitter - where to start. Here's some tips on how to start engaging people on Twitter.

• Been monitoring our organization name and url, but no one is talking about us. It's time to also start to monitoring keywords related to your programs. Also, start to identify bloggers that you want to cultivate and pick up the feed. Comment on their blogs. Some tips on blogger cultivation. Also, don't forget that you can listen on YouTube and Social Networks. See tip sheet.

• Some may want to get very local - here's a directory of bloggers who write about different locations, neighborhoods, communities, towns. Here's some tips about finding people tweeting in your town.

• Use the reader your most comfortable with. If it works, stick with it.